


Titans

by MarvelMatt



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Archery, Covert Operation, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Growing Up, Heroes & Heroines, Mentor/Protégé, Mentors, Secret Team, Secrets, Speed Force, Team Arrow, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Flash, Team Legends - Freeform, Titans, Training, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-10-12 03:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10480941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvelMatt/pseuds/MarvelMatt
Summary: After seeing The Legends in action, Oliver has an ideas - Brining together Arsenal, Speedy, Artemis and Impulse, Green Arrow and Katana begin to secretly train their new team, readying the next generation's heroes, but when someone from the past breaks free, he focuses his revenge on the team of protégés, and it begs the questions:Will they survive?And can all of them be trusted?





	1. Title Page

_"It takes faith and optimism to be able to look past others' shortcomings, and see what they can become"_

_-Unknown_

* * *

**Titans**

**Chapter List**

* * *

**Arc 01: Genesis**

**Chapter 01:** Blueprints

 **Chapter 02:** The Offer

 **Chapter 03:**  Dinner Date

 **Chapter 04:** Together

 **Chapter 05:** Faith Given

 **Chapter 06:** Go Team!


	2. Blueprints

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note
> 
> Obviously this is AU as of the 'Invasion!' crossover, however it is slightly more AU, as Artemis was never a traitor to Team Arrow, nor is she working with Prometheus in this. This is an AU story, commencing at the end of DC's Legends of Tomorrow 2x7, and it will go from there, bringing in characters that we've seen before, and new ones that we haven't (yet anyway).
> 
> So please give it a shot, and let me know what you think below.
> 
> -MarvelMatt

_'_ _What we need are more people who specialise in the impossible'_

_-Theodore Roethke_

* * *

**Titans**

**Arc 01: Genesis**

**Chapter 01: Blueprints**

* * *

Oliver couldn't help but laugh along with Barry as they knocked their drinks together, almost in a private salute to their bigger and combined team, which 'The Invasion' had proven, was only going to continue to grow. The bar the young speedster had chosen was a small one, but it was well lit, with a nice, almost homely atmosphere. It was a very light place, and the Star City vigilante had a feeling it wasn't the first time the 'Hero that Saved Central City' had been there.

"You know, since everything happened, I've actually been meaning to talk with you", when Oliver saw that Barry was listening, he continued, "seeing Sara's team in action - Team Legends - it actually gave me a bit of an idea"

"Oh", he knocked his shot back, not even recoiling slightly as the strong alcohol hit his system, and somewhere in the multiverse, there was a brattier version of Oliver that had never really progressed past his years of debauchery, and would've really envied his ability to do that, even as Barry gave the archer his full attention, "what was that?"

"It's just", he took a moment to gather his thoughts, wondering what the best way to explain it was, "with everything that's happened recently, and the time's where we've needed each other's' help - you, me and Firestorm fighting The Reverse Flash, I helped you out with Bivolo-"

"-Rainbow Raider-"

"-I'm not calling him that. You gave me your help with Captain Boomerang, and then again you helped save my team with Ra's. I've pulled in old friends to help, like Tatsu-"

"-Katana-"

"-And then there was you and The Atom taking on that girl-"

"The Bug-Eyed Bandit- I'll stop interrupting you now, because I can literally feel that your about to reach over the table and strangle me"

"We've fought immortal dictators together, you ran across dimensions and met another Flash, then there's Supergirl, who is just about the most powerful person I think I've ever met. You said that Cisco's now slowly mastering his powers - he'll be a bit of a force to be reckoned with in time, and I'm training a brand new team of vigilantes, it all just got me thinking"

"About what?"

He took a long sip from his beer before answering, "The villains are always getting smarter, always becoming more and more organised, teaming up when it suits them, so I think it's time that we started to become a bit more like that too"

"So what?" Barry shot him a look that was half-serious, though he still had a smile on his face, "You think we should form some sort of a team?"

"I was thinking of something a bit looser, a bit more like a league than a straight up team"

"Ahh… something like the JSA?"

"Yeah something like that… meeting this past version of Vixen's what gave me the idea actually"

"Huh", Barry took a moment to think it over, "it's actually a really good idea, but a team like that would need some kind of structure, a place to meet, actual meetings that take place, some kind of hub set-up maybe… and it would definitely need a leader"

"And that last part's where you come in"

"Me?" the speedster turned to face him, wide-eyed and confused, "You want me to lead? It's your idea, why not you?"

"A team like this needs to have a friendly face in charge, someone who can not only lead them, but also put them at ease when things get tough, make them feel better when we're getting beaten, more-so especially when it comes to interacting the public, and that's just not me"

"Okay… so how about this - and I'm not saying yes, 'cause an idea like this clearly needs a lot more thought and planning"

"I'm listening"

"I'll be the leader - the face of this team- this league - but I want you call the shots in the field, you have a way of looking at threats in a way I just don't, a way that only comes from experience. You handle everyone else's training, just like you did for me, so that if I lead, then you'll have to be my sort of…"

"Tactical Advisor?"

Barry smiled so wide that for a moment, Oliver was slightly afraid that the grin would split his face, or worse, that he'd try to _hug_ him.

"The Green Arrow, Tactical Advisor…", he let the words roll off his tongue, trying them out, "it's a nice fit"

Oliver held up his hand, and before long there were two fresh bottles of ice cold beer in front of them. He smiled at the waitress while she collected their old ones, and was rewarded with a faint blush across her cheeks, while across from him Barry rolled his eyes, and he was rewarded with a swift kick to the shin beneath the table.

The two of them stayed silent long enough for their waitress, whose nametag identified her as Beth, to leave them, before Oliver asked the question that had been on his mind since their lives had been saved a few days prior.

"So who was the kid anyway?"

"What kid?"

Barry sent him a confused look, and he took a moment to realise that Barry didn't actually know who he was talking about, and he fought the need to roll his eyes in response.

"The really fast one"

"Oh him", his nose crinkled, a tell-tale sign that he was uncomfortable, "that's Wally. He's Joe's son, the biological one, and Iris's little brother"

"And he's a speedster like you?"

"Yeah, honestly he's a pretty fast one too. He has a lot more free time than I do, and he keeps training all the time, I mean he's gotten so fast, so quickly-"

"So he's dedicated"

"Yeah"

"So, are you training him then?"

"NO!" At his outburst, several of the bars patrons turned to them, shooting the pair curious looks, and Barry's face turned red in response, while Oliver took a moment to smile back, until the attention died down.

"Why not?"

"I just", his face grimaced as he remembered the images from Flashpoint, when Wally had been lying on the table, as he slowly faded away, killed by The Rival, and for all his power, Barry had been helpless to help him as he lay dying, his own speed fading, "I just can't"

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not even a little"

"Fair enough"

Keeping their silence, the two men nursed what was left of their drinks, before Oliver got up to settle their tab, and met Barry outside, where he was quick to run him back to the STAR Labs hangar they had been using over the last few days.

The same hangar that Oliver had just bought off of them, and then paid Cisco a small fortune to outfit with his best security, which included a full-body biometric scanner on the door.

The scanner was activated, but he hadn't had time to programme in who he wanted, so it was recognising most of them as a guest, until they Oliver got around to keying the rest of them in.

 _"_ _Recognised Flash 0-2, Green Arrow 0-1"_

"How come you get to go first anyway? I'm apparently the leader"

"I own the place, I get to go first. If you want to go first, then buy your own building"

Barry chuckled in response as the door opened by sliding downwards, "I'll remember that"

The two of them walked through the new security doors, into what could only really be described as 'organised chaos'.

In one corner of the space, which Oliver had already drawn up mental designs for, Sara and Amaya were showing off a few of their moves to Jax, Wally and Thea, who were all laughing in between getting thrown to the mats by an equally amused White Canary and Vixen.

Supergirl was bouncing around Caitlin and Felicity, and both men liked the way the young alien seemed to light up the room, and everyone around her. For Barry it was always nice to see, but for Oliver it was, well, an _alien_ concept, seeing someone surrounded by so much darkness being so happy and carefree all of the time.

Even Barry at least scowled from time to time.

It made him feel better though, lighter even, knowing that there were still better places out there, better people.

At their makeshift bar, they could see the rest of Team Legends helping themselves to what was left of their alcohol. The pair both found it strange to see a group of heroes drinking along with Mick Rory, AKA Heatwave, a known arsonist and convicted felon, who had just had all of his and his, now-deceased, partner's criminal records erased, as a personal favour from The President for their work during 'The Invasion'.

Oliver didn't trust him, and Barry was definitely wary of him, citing that he didn't live by the same code of honour that his partner had, but Sara had vouched for him, telling them that he'd proven himself, and when they were fighting, Oliver had found himself back-to-back with the man, arson and archer, and he hadn't given him reason not to trust him then, which told him that even if he was definitely wary, he could still rely on Sara's judgement.

Also, it was funny to see him embarrass Ray over and over again, even if it was with some sort of hidden affection.

Team Arrow minus himself, Felicity, Thea and Diggle (as well as Lyla and John Junior) had all left, seeming to relish in the idea that without the senior members of the team back home, they were free to patrol their city's streets to their hearts' content without the Green Arrow there to rein them in.

Cisco popped up from underneath a control panel, smiling to himself as he worked away, and Barry flashed across the room to talk to him, leaving Oliver stood by himself at the entrance to the hangar, and from his spot where he could see them all, he watched as Thea lunged for Sara's face, while Wally appeared behind her in a blur of yellow lightning, hunched over behind her legs, and tripping the former assassin like a kindergartner would, and sending her sprawling to the floor.

Wally popped back to his feet with a massive grin, while Thea giggled at the sight of her pseudo-sister glaring at the yellow speedster, which became a real laugh as he tried to show off and was promptly tripped up by the Legends' Leader.

And it was from watching that, which gave Oliver his second idea.

* * *

It was a few days later that everyone had wound down, and Cisco, with some extra help from Ray, Felicity, and to most people's surprise, Jax, had finally installed the last of their new security systems. Jax had even managed to install a small shield, much like the one on the Waverider, in case anyone tried to attack the base.

Just in case, the combination of expertly trained and super-powered heroes inside wasn't enough to scare them off.

They all made their way to the rooftop, where the team's time ship was stored. They were greeted by Gideon at the base of the ramp to the cargo hold, and with a round of hugs and goodbyes (only Ray was brave enough to even try and hug Oliver), Team Legends made their way back onto their ship, immediately heading towards the bridge, where they could continue waving to their friends, and everyone else took a few steps back, leaving only Oliver, Barry and Sara stood together.

"So this is it for now huh", she couldn't help but grin at the other two men, who stood out next to each other, like brothers in one aspect, like night and day in the other.

"This is it", Oliver confirmed with a nod of his head, before reaching into his pocket and handing her a USB stick, before handing another one to Barry, and she was aware that no one else could see them.

Meaning that no one else could see the USB sticks either.

A fact that wasn't lost on either of the other two.

"What's this Ollie?"

"This", he said, with a quick glance to make sure the others weren't looking, "is an idea I had. I was discussing it with Barry the other day, and he and I sorted out a few bits together. I'm working on something else as well, which I think will help all of us in the long run, but I was hoping you'd both take a look at this one", before she could ask anything else, he added, "just you two though. Our eyes only"

"Alright. I'll take a look for you", she pulled him into a hug, which after a moment's hesitation he returned, "take care of yourself Ollie"

"You too Sara"

Letting him go, she hugged Barry too, who was much quicker to hug her back, earning him a quick peck on the cheek, "Later fleet feet"

He chuckled, "Just come home safe, 'kay Canary"

"You got it boss"

The two of them watched as she bounced up the ramp, still dressed in her casual wear, and the two of them made their way over to the others, while the Waverider began to hum, signalling it powering up, and a few moments later it began to lift off into the air.

Oliver and Diggle both raised a hand in farewell, while Barry led everyone else in waving madly to them, while they watched, in partial amazement, as the ship headed up before disappearing into the time vortex.

Beside him, Digg let out a breath, "I ain't ever gonna get used to that"

Barry laughed, having heard him, before they all made their way off the rooftop, and down towards the ground, as Thea led them out to the front of the building, where Team Arrow's plain black van, the STAR Labs van and Oliver's Ducati were all parked up.

The two teams all piled in to their respective vehicles, leaving only their leaders stood out front, where they could feel the others' eyes on them, and Barry offered his hand, which Oliver grasped, before surprising the younger man by pulling him into a brief, one-armed hug.

"Take care of yourself, and that team of yours, scarlet speedster"

Barry laughed, "Right back at you, emerald archer"

* * *

Feeling confident in his own success, he stepped through the door, letting it silently close behind him as he made his way to the meeting table, standing at the foot of it with his head bowed in deference.

"You have returned, report. Did you get what we needed?"

"No Sir. I was unsuccessful in that particular endeavour"

There was a murmuring of anger, "That is not what we wanted to hear. There will be _severe_ consequences for this failure"

"Yes Sir, but…"

"What is it?"

"The one that appeared. The one you have expressed interest in. While they were distracted fighting the others, she became injured, just for a moment before it healed, but she bled, and I managed to get this from her"

He held up the vial, letting the liquid inside swill as he looked through it, as their eyes were all drawn to it, following its movements inside of the bottle, and he could feel their hunger for it.

"Give that to me. _Now_ "

He passed it down the table, with a smirk tugging at his lips, concealed beneath his mask, "May I believe that that it is an acceptable substitute for my loss today"

"Indeed it is. _Now give it to me_ ", he snatched up the vial from the one next to him, "Oh yes, this will suit our purposes much better than the original we had in mind. We will hand this to our partners at once, and they will commence work immediately. You have done well enforcer", their eyes met down the length of the table, "you have done well"


	3. The Offer

_‘If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door’_

_-Milton Berle_

* * *

**Titans **

**Arc 01: Genesis**

**Chapter 02: The Offer**

* * *

They were two-thirds of the way back to Star City when Digg noticed that Oliver was waving him down, and giving it a quick check to make sure that there was no one else there, he pulled over to the side the road, coming to a stop just in front of the Ducati.

Seeing what was happening, Thea and Lyla were quick to get out, almost jumping out of the backseat with Thea feeling restless and Lyla just wanting John Junior to get some fresh air, followed by a much less hasty Diggle and Felicity, as the quintet made their way back over to where Oliver was still sat on his bike, and in the middle of removing his helmet.

“What’s with the stopping man?”

“I’m not heading home with you all just yet”

“How come?”

He blew out a breath, “I’m going to head to Hub City, and I’ll be there for a day or two, there’s someone I need to see about a thing”

“And you’re being purposefully vague about this because?”

“Because it’s none of your business”, he ignored the affronted look from Felicity, and the surprised one from Diggle as he took in his sister, who was looking at him confused.

“Ollie, what’s going on?”

“I’ll talk to you when I get back Speedy, okay? Book a table for three for Sunday night, wherever you want, and we can talk there, I promise - just make sure that it’s a private space”

“Alright”, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, before wrapping them around herself, “we’ll talk in a few then”

“Digg, I’ll need you to take care of the recruits while I’m gone, and I want you to keep Artemis out of the field until I get back”

“Can I ask why?”

“I just”, he sat up straighter, to look his oldest friend in the eye, “I just need you to trust me on this one Digg. No questions asked”

The ex-solider looked as though he wanted to argue, but decided to hold his tongue, giving his hard-earned trust to his friend, as he nodded his consent. Satisfied with the response he had received, Oliver slid his helmet back on, and ignoring the suspicious looks he was getting from Felicity and Lyla, he raised a hand in goodbye, before he gunned the acceleration, turning left where the team would go straight ahead, and began following the road signs for Hub City.

* * *

Jason Anders was relieved when the clock above the garage door finally hit four o’clock.

The day had felt like a long one, and with each passing second, the heat emanating from inside of the garage was made worse by the complete chill coming as a result of the rain from the outside.

It made everything feely ‘sticky’.

Wiping the sweat from his brow on the sleeve of his overalls, he pulled the pale blue fabric over his head and toed off his work boots, before he put them back into his locker, replacing them with a quick wipe down from a towel he kept there, and then his favourite sturdy trainers and dark red hoodie, before he waved goodbye to Mark, the lead mechanic, and stepped back out onto the streets.

He immediately pulled his hood up, liking the anonymity it provided him, as well as the protection from the rain, before he tightened it, as the rain fell faster than it had been while he was working, soaking through the material completely, and chilling him to the bone, immediately making him regret his decision to not put on a thicker coat when he left for work that morning.

He took in a deep breath, and took in a lungful of Hub City.

The air was nice and crisp, even in the drearier parts of the city, a testament to the city’s strong policy of cutting down on the use of non-renewable energy sources, and as he made his way down the street, he took in a whiff of the local pizza parlour, which was still filled with customers, despite the fact that their outdoor patios couldn’t be used.

He nodded at a few people that he had come to recognise as regulars for the area, most of them being from the city’s local homeless population, they were the few people that he made an attempt to strike up conversations with, in order to check that there was nothing too vicious going on in the area, and it always kept his mind calm to know that everything was fine, even despite the fact that Hub City was known for its low crime rate.

He made a quick stop to the nearest convenience store to pick up a fresh carton of milk and some chips, paying in cash, and smiling at the checkout girl when she gave him his change, earning a wink in response, causing him to let out a short laugh.

He winked back at her on his way out, carrying his purchases under his arm as he made his way back onto the street.

It was raining heavier than it had before when he stepped out of the store, and he pulled the strings on his hood tighter in response, despite the fact that it wasn’t waterproof.

He sped up into a light run as the rain began to fall even harder, completely drenching him through his jacket, and beginning to soak through to his t-shirt too.

He turned the corner onto his block, and made a beeline for the front steps of his apartment block, not hesitating to pull open the front door and diving inside, to where it was warm and dry.

He walked past the broken down elevator, and stepped onto the stairs. He made his way up to the fifth floor, heading for his own apartment - apartment 5-B - which was all the way at the top of the building, but instead of having a nice view of the area, he had a nice view of the building next door, and complete access to the building’s fire escape.

It was the reason he chose the apartment.

Absentmindedly, he slid his key into the lock, and used his shoulder to nudge the door open, keeping a firm hold on his purchases as he half-walked, half-stumbled through the door.

Kicking the door shut behind him, he froze for a moment, even as he dropped the milk and chips on the countertop, before shrugging off his wet jacket, and slinging it over the nearest radiator.

He used a dish towel to dry his hair, as he cast his eyes around his darkened apartment. It was bare, which was fine with him, he’d never had that much stuff to begin with. The only personal items were the Flash and Green Arrow figurines that were set onto the TV stand, which he had manoeuvred into fighting stances.

“Are you going to stand there all night? Brooding in the dark? Or are you going to come out and say ‘hi’?”

There was a low chuckle as the hidden figure in his apartment stepped out of the shadows, even as he hit the light witch on the wall, brightening the room considerably.

“I see your observational skills haven’t diminished then”

He scoffed, “Please, I grew up with my skills, I needed them to survive”, he shrugged, “but it does help that I was taught by the best”

“Ah, flattery”, he smirked as he lowered himself into an armchair, “I’m told it’ll get you everywhere”

“Sounds like something Felicity would say”, he threw his towel into the kitchen as he moved to take the opposite seat, leaving a small coffee table in between them, and ignoring the slight wince from the older man, “what do you want Oliver?”

The Star City mayor-by-day and vigilante-by-night reclined in his chair slightly, as he passed over the file he’d brought, letting the other man read through it, taking his time and scanning each page in turn, “Are you serious about this man? Who else knows about this?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t serious, and other than the two of us, only one other person knows. I’m telling Thea when I get back though, I think she’ll be interested”

“Good… that’s good, you should tell her”, he paused for a minute, “alright then. When do we start?”

“You’re in? Just like that?”

“Well, I’ll need a new suit, but if you got us a place to stay, then hell yeah I’m in. I’ve been going out while I’m here, lending a hand here and there, knocking a few teeth out, breaking a few jaws, you know how it is”

Oliver let out a chuckle, “I can get you a new suit fairly easily, I’ve still got the contact info for the guy who did your old one. There’s a few notes in there on expansion, I’ve added some comments, but I also want you to look over them. You’ll be the oldest one there, regardless of who else joins”

“I can do that, though I don’t know how I feel about being the oldest. I became your student to help save my city. I did that when I took the fall for ‘The Arrow’, and now, if there’s a chance for me to do that work again, this time as Arsenal, then I’m all in”

He handed him another slip of paper, this time with an address written on it, “That’s where I want you to be. Be there at ten AM, in two week’s time”

“I’ll be there”, both men stood up, recognising that it was time for Oliver to leave, and they shook hands, “and if you need anything before then, you know where to find me”

When they released their hands, the elder archer made his way to the door, and before he could leave, he turned back, “Actually, there is something you could do for me, save me some time anyway”

* * *

“Alright Wallace, you go, go, go, that’s my boy, right there”

“Woo!”

Finishing his latest set of the speed lab with a laugh, Wally ran out of their speed testing circuit in a flash of bright yellow, clad in a STAR Labs tracksuit and sneakers as he skidded to a stop in font of HR, who was giddily twirling a drumstick in his left hand, while he wildly gestured to the screen that recorded him when he ran.

“Alright then, how’d I do?”

“How’d you do? How’d you do!? That was your best time yet! You’re way faster than Barry Allen was at this point in his training”

“Training? What training? What’s going on here?”

Both mentor and student turned at the sound of Joe West’s voice, as he made his way into the lab space, flanked by Barry and Iris, and they tried their best to downplay what they were doing.

“Nothing”

“Nice try”, Joe stared down at his son, and Wally winced as the pitch of his voice went up in the middle, and Joe pressed again while Barry began speed reading the data that was on the screen, “now without the lies, I’ll ask again, _what training_?”

“You’ve been training Wally”

It was Barry that spoke up, having finished speed reading the data. It was a list of the top speeds Wally had been able to attain, how long he had been able to hold them for, HR had even begun making him work on his reaction time by introducing new stimuli into the circuit while he was running it.

He’d known Wally had been using the circuit to test himself, to push his limits and see just what he could do, but this was more than that.

This was the same type of training he’d do to help him with being The Flash.

A part of Barry was impressed that Wally was at a point in his training after just a few weeks, whereas it had taken him months to get that fast.

“I wanna help. I’m faster than Barry was at this point in his training. I helped out with the Dominators. Why can’t I just-“

“I said no. Absolutely not”, Joe was adamant, and it was clear to both Wally and HR that his sister and The Flash agreed with him, “you are not a superhero Wally, and Barry doesn’t need any help-“

“But Savitar-“

“No! Wally, and that’s final. You will not be running around out there, getting in people’s way. It’s dangerous, and _you_ ”, the CCPD Detective rounded on the Harrison Wells from Earth Nineteen, “you should definitely know better. You know I would never-“

“Dad!” Wally stepped in front of his trainer, “Don’t blame him. I asked for this. I want to do this-“

“I said no Wally”, he let out a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, “and my decision on this is final”

“That’s not fair!”

“Life’s not fair, I suggest you get over it”

Letting out a frustrated groan, Joe took a step back, startled by his son, who ran out of the room, moving in a blur of yellow lightning, hitting Barry in the gut with his shoulder, knocking him into the ground, and making sure that he couldn’t move quickly enough to let himself be followed.

“Well”, HR stuck his drumsticks into the back pocket of his jeans, “I feel like I’m in the mood for a cappuccino, so I’m gonna go get one. Anyone else feel like one?”

* * *

Wally skid to a stop on top of the STAR Labs building, letting out a scream of frustration into the evening air, where it was swallowed up the noise of the city, drowned out by the noise of the traffic and the people.

Normally, it was one of the things Wally loved most, standing on the roof of the building, and watching as Central City lived and breathed beneath him.

It was one of the things Jesse had shown him that she did on her earth, and sometimes coming up to the roof made him feel closer to her, even when she was a world away.

Normally, it was one of the things that just helped to make him feel calm.

But right now, Wally just wanted to scream.

It just wasn’t _fair._

Barry got to use his powers to help people, running around every day with the wind on his face, helping put smiles back on the faces of those that needed him, and making sure that his city was safe.

And Joe and Iris not only knew about it, but they encouraged it - encouraged _him_ to do it - to go out there and be The Flash, be the city the hero needed.

Even Jesse was allowed to be trained as The Flash, and Harry was about as strict with her as Joe was with him, if not more so - he only had the one child to worry about.

There was so much that Barry could teach him about using his powers to help people, how to be a hero, just like he was, but he _wouldn’t_ , not while they said no.

It wasn’t _fair._

He heard the dull thud of boots on metal, and didn’t even bother to look up from his city view as he spoke, “I’m not in the mood for a talk”

“Are you in the mood to listen?”

Wally darted to his feet, spinning around, as his eyes began scanning the area for the source of the noise.

“Up here”

His eyes shot up to the metal structure that shot up towards the sky, making the building stand out amongst the skyline, and it was there that Wally found him, crouched on one of the rungs with his feet folded beneath him.

He looked familiar, but Wally couldn’t quite place his face.

“What-“, he cleared his throat as he stood up straighter, “what are you doing here?”

“Looking for you”, he responded simply, as though that wasn’t a completely creepy thing to say, before he slid off the rung he was sitting on, dropping to the floor and rolling with impact, until he was back on his feet, “you are Wally West, right? The speedster who isn’t actually being allowed to train and use his powers?”

“Who the hell are you?”

“My name’s Roy Harper, but I go by Arsenal when I’m working. I don’t know if you’ve heard of me, but I was trained by the Green Arrow, and if you’re interested, I have a message from him, for you”

Shifting between the balls of his feet, Wally debated his options. Option one, he could run, get Barry and his dad, and throw this guy in the pipeline until they figured out what was going on. Option two, he could take this guy himself, but… if he was trained by the Green Arrow, then there had to be a reason that Barry and Cisco, who both had powers, were slightly afraid of the guy, and that could mean that this guy knew what he was doing. And then there was option three…

Option three was probably not a good idea.

But it was the one he was taking.

“Okay”, he stuck out his hand to Roy, who shook it immediately, smiling, in an attempt to put him at ease, “my name’s Wally West… and I’m prepared to listen”


	4. Dinner Date

_'_ _If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun'_

_-Katharine Hepburn_

* * *

**Titans**

**Arc 01: Genesis**

**Chapter 03: Dinner Date**

* * *

As he descended into the lair, Oliver smoothed his face into the blank expression he'd mastered during his time away from the city when he was stranded, but still studying under some of the best the world had ever seen - the likes of Yao Fei, Shado Fei, Slade Wilson (who had become one of his worst enemies in Deathstroke) and Maseo Yamashiro (he never did ask why he had Tatsu's surname). Each one of his teachers had taught him something new along his journey, taught him something that he could add to his ever growing arsenal, helping turn him into a weapon, and then Talia had come along and refined him, making him into the efficient killer that had returned to Starling City.

He hated what he had become in that regard - hated how the darkness he had tried to avoid had come to penetrate every aspect of his life - but it was also what he wanted the new generation to avoid.

It was part of the reason that he had (eventually) agreed to take Roy under his wing, to help Thea learn to control herself, and even train Artemis alongside the rest of the recruits.

If they were going to be the next generation of defenders - _heroes_ , he corrected himself mentally - then he was going to make damn sure that they were free of the darkness that plagued him.

The elevator came to a stop, and as it was the early evening, he expected to see his team training, before they went out on the evening's patrol. René would be cleaning his guns, or maybe hitting the bag with Diggle, while Curtis would be on one of the Wing-Chun dummies, Rory would be trying to once again master the salmon ladder, and Evelyn would be sparring with Diggle (if he wasn't working with René), or practicing her archery down the range he'd had installed.

Felicity would no doubt be on one of her computers, doing something that nobody else, except for maybe Curtis, could understand.

What he didn't expect was to see Evelyn and Diggle having a stare down, with her red in the face from yelling no doubt, while everyone else was in the middle of trying to make a hasty exit.

"What's going on?"

The combination of his question, and his stepping into the room caused everyone to freeze where they were, his recruits and Felicity stopped from where they were in the middle of trying to escape to obvious argument, while Evelyn turned her glare on him, though it receded slightly, and he heard John breath out a "Thank God", under his breath.

"Now, I took an extra day to get here, and I expected everything to be fine, so could someone please tell me", he ran his eyes across them all, and watched as a few of them moved back, shrinking away from him in slight fear, "what the hell is going on?"

Before the others could attempt to get a word out, Evelyn used the distraction his entrance had caused to jump in front of the others, "Digg wouldn't let me go out into the field"

"I know", at her confused expression, he decided to explain, "he did so on my order. It was my decision"

"What?" Her face betrayed the hurt she felt, before she reined it back in, and turned her glare on him, full-force, "What the hell?"

He held up his hand to in an attempt to placate her, and it seemed to work somewhat, as she clamped down on her urge to argue with him, despite knowing that it would get her nowhere with him.

"We'll talk later, in fact I came here to touch base, and tell you to get dressed"

"Why?"

"I've got dinner with my sister and you're coming too"

"I am?"

"Yes, go change. Now", she hesitated for a moment, before a pointed look from Oliver had her moving off towards the changing rooms, where there were a few spare dresses hanging up that she could borrow.

As she moved off to get changed, the others gradually returned to the room, sparing glances at Oliver, even as Diggle and Felicity moved towards the centre of the floor, and he stepped forward to meet them there.

"Everything else go alright while I was gone?"

"No problems here. Curtis and René worked well together - better than I thought they would actually", Digg admitted with a slight shake of his head as the rest of the team began to gear up, "you sort out what you needed sorting?"

"It's all good on that front. I'll be gone for the weekend coming, can you handle things here again?"

"No problem man, but you better be warned", Digg levelled him with a glare that was filled with amusement, "I'll be getting even for this"

"After all that time you got off, sitting in one of those comfy eight-by-eight cells, you want more? Careful Digg, or we're all going to start thinking you're getting greedy with the time off"

"Har har, don't you have a dinner to get to?"

"Yeah, tell Curtis to give me a call when he's off patrol, I'm gonna go change before Evelyn does, that way Thea can't solely blame me when we're late"

It was Felicity's turn to smile up at him, "You know she'll blame you anyway right?"

"I know, but I can dream, can't I?"

"Two jokes in one day", she leant up to pinch his cheek, and he pulled back, scowling as she laughed, and Diggle coughed into his sleeve, "keep this up and we'll all start to think you're a real boy"

He rolled his eyes at the pair in front of him, "Just get to work. This city won't save itself you know"

* * *

"Okay brother dear, the restaurant is great, you're footing the bill by the way, and I got to wear my new dress, which is all great in theory, but you've got that look on your face which tells me that there's something serious you want to say to me- us"

"I don't have a look"

"You totally have a look", Evelyn added, as she swilled the straw around her soda, feeling disgruntled that she couldn't have wine like the two of them, but Oliver Queen was the Mayor of Star City now, and with that, came an image he had to retain.

And a part of that was not allowing himself to be seen in the company of underage minors who he was allowing to drink.

"There's no look"

"There's a look", the two of them spoke in unison, prompting a round of giggles from the two of them, while he finished what little was left of his wine, fighting the urge to sigh and pour another glass while they calmed themselves down.

"So really Ollie, what'd ya bring us here for?"

"I'm working on something, and I was hoping you'd both want to be a part of it"

"Told you there was something", Thea muttered to Evelyn, knowing that he could hear her, as he passed over the two files he'd brought to each one of them.

"I didn't say you were wrong", was the reply she was given, while they both opened the files, and Oliver was glad that they'd been given a private booth and not an open table, as they began to read through his proposal.

As he was sat at the end closest to the main body of the restaurant, he ordered a round of coffee and asked for the cheque, giving the girls time to leaf through the pages, reading through its contents, as well as the notes he'd added at the side.

"You've really thought about this, haven't you?"

"Yeah Speedy, but this invasion really made me move up my timetable. I had them working overtime to get the place up and running. On the upside though, I'm told that the security system is so secure even Felicity couldn't hack it"

"And can she?"

"I don't know, I haven't told her about it - I haven't told anyone about it, not really"

"Not really boss?"

"They know that there's a secure building, and where it is. They just think I bought it for me, with whatever amount of funds I had Felicity 'liberate' from Merlyn, Slade and Darhk"

"And you saw no reason to correct them on that, did you?"

"Not even at all", he said with a smirk.

"Is this why you pulled me out of the field? You want me to do this?"

He turned to look at the youngest member of his team, she was only seventeen, but she was so full of passion that she honestly amazed him, "Yes. I think that you could learn a lot here, learn a lot from the others I've called about this, and I think you'll find that it's a better fit for you in the long run"

"Alright then. I'm in", at his surprised look, she added, "hey, I asked you to train me, and if you think that this is a better way for me to do that, then I trust your judgement. I'll be there"

"Thank you 'Mis", he turned back to his sister, "what about you?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're lost", the honesty in his words shocked her, and she soon gave him her full attention, "you're floundering Thea, and you know it. You've got all this training now, from me, from Merlyn, and we were both taught by the best in the world, only now you don't know what to do with it. I think it's time you did something positive with it"

"I need time Ollie. I need to think about it"

"That's fine. You saw the date in there, and if it'll help you make your decision, I think I've got the perfect man lined up to take over your duties as my Chief of Staff"

* * *

"Alright you guys, dinner is served"

"Ooh spaghetti"

Barry let his eyes run across the table laden with food, as he sat down next to Iris at Joe's dinner table, and reached for a slice of garlic bread, only to have his hand swatted away by his adoptive father, "Wait for Wally"

The young CSI pouted, but didn't have to wait for very long, as a burst of yellow lightning lit up the room, and the youngest member of the West-Allen clan appeared in the hallway, with a definite spring in his step and a massive smile on his face, which had definitely not been there during their talk in the speed room earlier.

Barry thought that Wally would've still been mad.

"What's got you in such a good mood?"

Apparently he wasn't the only curious one, as Iris immediately went into her investigative journalist mode, and Wally rocked about on the balls of his feet, moving quickly enough that Barry could practically feel his excitement flowing through the Speed Force.

"I just got offered a job"

Of all of the things Barry had envisioned Wally saying to them when he got back home, that hadn't been in his top five.

Or even his top ten.

"What?"

_At least Iris' brain is still working._

"Who offered you a job? You just started college"

Joe trailed off, unsure of what to say next, and Wally, seemingly not sensing his dad's slightly upset tone, continued, in the same excited tone he'd started in, "That's just it - College. Apparently they saw the aircraft turbine supercar designs I submitted as part of my application, and the college passed my design onto them. They told me that if I'm prepared to work for them, then they'll pay to put me through college, so no tuition fees, and then they'll pay me a wage as long as I agree to work part-time for them too"

"Where- where is it, the job, I mean?"

Barry's question caused him Wally to slow down slightly for the first time since he'd arrived, and he could detect an air of uneasiness about the man, "It's in Jump City"

"What?!"

Joe stood up in surprise, mouth agape as he looked as his youngest son, "But that's… that's on the other side of the country!"

"Yeah, so?" Wally slid into a seat, and began spooning spaghetti onto a plate, "It's like, a ten minute jog to get there, and even then, that's if I take it easy"

"So", Barry grabbed some of the garlic bread, cutting Joe off as the elder West sat back down, willing to let the scientist talk to the scientist, "did they give you a deadline for when you have to get a response back to them?"

"Oh, I already said yes", Wally either ignored his father's eyes widening at his statement, or just didn't notice - Barry wasn't completely sure, "I mean, how often do you get a chance to do something like this?"

"So who is it that gave you the offer?"

Wally swallowed an amount of spaghetti that gave the others pause, "It's a new tech company that's just opened up, they're doing work into experimental and advanced technology, huh", he adopted a surprised look, "kinda like STAR Labs"

"So advanced research?"

"Yeah but it's all cutting-edge tech only - there won't be anything like what Caitlin does, or any particle accelerators being built for that matter"

"So basically", Iris cut in with a grin, "it's a company of Cisco's?"

Wally and Barry chuckled, as the younger speedster answered his sister, "Something like that yeah - they're still setting up and are looking for 'talented individuals'", he made quotation marks with his hands, "and once they saw my design, they decided that they had to snap me up"

"And do _they_ ", Joe spoke up for the first time since he'd sat down, "have a name?"

"Oh yeah, they're a company called Q-Core and the owner is some guy called Conner Hawke"

"And you don't know who that is?"

"No, the rep they sent out to me was a man called Jason Anders, who deals with recruitment and oversees the needs of the personnel for the company"

"So an unknown man approached you, working for a company you've never heard of, and you said yes?" Joe wasn't happy, and his tone of voice made that clear, "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I was never going to get a chance like this - it was a limited time opportunity, and there were only three slots"

"And who's getting the other two?"

"Let's see, there was a girl named Evelyn Sharp", Wally took a quick look at Barry, and was glad to see he didn't recognise the name, "and another girl, err… I think her surname was Dearden or something weird like that"

"You know things like this aren't uncommon", Barry interjected, turning everyone's attention to him, "I was offered a spot at Mercury Labs before I was one hundred percent certain that I wanted to become a CSI"

"I know, I know", Joe brushed his hand over his forehead, "and sometimes I wish you'd taken it, but then you probably wouldn't be The Flash and who knows what kind of state this city'd be in then"

"Yeah", the man nodded his head slowly, "it's funny how things work out sometime", he smiled to himself before turning back towards their youngest member, "so when does it start?"

"I'm heading over on Saturday for my first day"

"What!? But that's only a few days away!"

"I know", Wally's tone was back to one of confusion, "that's why I'm telling you all straight away. It was a make-or-break decision and I made it", he turned to look at them all one-by-one, "I thought you'd all be happy for me"

"We are Wally", Iris reached over the table, grabbing one of his hands with her own, "It's just a lot to take in"

Joe nodded in agreement as he sat back in his chair, slumping slightly, "I'm not happy you're gonna be so far away, but I _am_ proud of you", he leant other to give his son's shoulder a squeeze, "and I know your mom would be too"

Wally swallowed, before reaching up and squeezing his hand back, "Thanks Dad"

The four of them settled into a comfortable silence, enjoying their food while Barry and Wally fought mostly in silence over what was left of the spaghetti and garlic bread.

"So Wally", Barry swallowed the last of his food, turning to the man he was coming to think of as a brother with a smile on his face, letting Wally take what was left of the garlic bread, "what're you looking forward to the most at college?"

Wally grinned.

* * *

With his dinner tray in hand, he made his way across the dirt and twigs that made up the island's ground, ignoring the crunching that came from under his boots as he came to a stop at the circle of solid, reinforced steel that made up the sole entrance.

Reaching down, he typed in the four digit access code, placing the tray on a slab of metal that would lower it down as he climbed down the small eight foot ladder.

There were a half-dozen cells inside, only two of which had ever been used, and one of them was currently empty, while he was away for interrogation, only one man had to be fed.

"Dinner", he called out, as he stepped up to the far cell, and handed the tray between the bars, the prisoner taking it wordlessly, "potatoes look good today. I'd have them last though", he called out, as he left the other man behind, closing the hatch behind him.

Feeling curious, the sole prisoner sat up on his cot, and a quick look at the mashed potatoes was all he needed to know that something was wrong with them, even if they looked real.

Trusting his instincts, he turned it over, not surprised to find that it crumbled in his hands, before he got to the very centre, where it was solid.

Wiping away the mess, he grinned to himself.

He'd recognise C4 anywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note - if any of you would like to vote, there is a poll up on my FanFiction.net homepage for the potential new team members you would like to see, so please, head over that way and vote.
> 
> https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5867165/MarvelMatt


	5. Together

_'_ _You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be_ '

_-David Viscott_

* * *

**Titans **

**Arc 01: Genesis**

**Chapter 04: Together**

* * *

" _Que paso_ man?"

"Hey Paco"

Dropping against the wall to sit next to his best friend, Jaime took a bite of the bagel he was offered, savouring the two bites he took of the hot, but plain bread, before he handed it back to him with a grateful nod, "Thanks _ese_. I really needed that"

"I figured", Paco swallowed down what was left of the bagel, "I saw you coming back late last night. You looked exhausted dude"

"Tell me about it", he flexed out the muscles in his shoulder, where they had bunched up yesterday, and were still sore and tense, "Walker's got us working longer hours now, apparently the job's way behind schedule, and the guys at Kord's are saying that he needs to finish on time, so that means more hours for us"

"Yeah well, you're getting paid for it though right?"

Jaime snorted, as he passed a roll of bills to his friend, who promptly shoved them under his pillow, where they could grab them later, "Hey, I'm gonna go hit the park, see if anyone's up for a challenge. You in man?"

"Nah man", Paco sat up straighter against the wall while his friend grabbed his board from underneath one of the piles of clothes they had lying under the structure of corrugated iron and sheeting that made up their makeshift home, and slipping on a helmet he stepped out from underneath, "there's talk of some work going down near the docks, you know, just moving stuff here, there and the like. I'm gonna go take a look down there, see if I can get something going _por yo_ "

"Alright ese, let me know how it turns out when I get back"

"I will man. You gonna be bringing dinner back wit' you?"

"I'll see what I can do man. Later _hermano_!"

" _Adios_ bro!"

* * *

"Is this it? It seems kinda…"

"Dull", Evelyn supplied, as she stepped out of the back seat of the SUV, finishing off Thea's question off, as the other girl joined her looking up at the plain white warehouse, "plain, completely bore-"

"-Plain is a good word", Oliver slid out of the driver's seat, coming to stand next to them and revealing the Green Arrow gear, hood down and sans mask, which was loosely dangling around his neck, while Evelyn was dressed in what she wore as Artemis, a black leather jacket and some dark blue combat trousers, also without her mask, and Thea was wearing an outfit similar to hers, except she was wearing it in all black, with a bright red t-shirt, "plain means nothing special, so it also means that no one will be looking at it", Oliver continued his explanation, as he came to stand beside them both, "and no one looking at it, means that it is the perfect place to house my new team. So", he turned to face them, "I'll ask one more time. Are you both sure you want to do this? You can still say no"

"Oh, I'm definitely in GA"

"Absolutely Ollie"

"You can definitely count me in too"

Having heard his first student approaching them from behind the van, Oliver didn't flinch at the sound of his voice, whereas Evelyn's hands flew to grab a bow that didn't exist, and Thea's head whipped around searching him out, as he came to stand next to Oliver, decked out in his old trademarked blue jeans and red hoodie, with a sports bag slung over his shoulder, before he came to a stop at the older man's shoulder.

"So how've you been boss?"

"Me? I'm fine, thanks for asking. You?"

"I'm doin' pretty good me'self"

"How was Hub City?"

"It was cold, I mean it rained a lot, _and_ I was always forgetting my coat when I went out. Come to think of it, there wasn't a lot of crime there either"

"Ah, so you got bored there then?"

"Oh my god yes, I st-"

He was cut off by Thea striking him on the back of the head, before pulling him into a hug, which he was only far too eager to return, lifting her off her feet slightly, and keeping her there until the Star City vigilante pointedly cleared his throat, and they released each other, both still slightly pink in their cheeks.

"I missed you", she looked at him softly, before glaring slightly, "and you're an idiot"

Roy grinned, "I missed you too", was his response, completely ignoring the insult levelled at him, before he turned his attention back to his mentor, "so where is our fourth man anyway?"

"Did he say he was coming?"

"Oh yeah, I helped him get set up with that cover story like you said to. He seemed pretty excited about it all too - definitely wants to get better, do his part to help out"

"Good, that's good… so he's just late then"

"I don't get it, I mean… how can he be late?" He has superspeed for god's sake!"

Oliver fought the urge to both, smile, and roll his eyes, thinking of the very number of times he'd asked Barry that exact same question, only for the younger man to smile at him and then laugh it off, "Just, just don't ask, it'll hurt your head less"

They were cut off from further conversation by a flash of yellow lightning, and the quartet turned to face their newest arrival. Dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a yellow-lined black hoodie, Wally West stood opposite them, with a sports bag wrapped around him, like Roy had, but his was strapped as tightly to his back as he could get it, so much so that he immediately had to lessen it when he stopped, but it had done its job well, and hadn't blown off when he was running over to them from Central City.

"Aw man", the young speedster took in the four of them, before blowing out his breath in a huff, "I knew I'd be the last one here"

Ignoring his disappointment, Roy stepped forward and offered his hand, which he was quick to take, recognising him, "It's good to see you here Wally"

"Yeah well, I couldn't let the Green Arrow's guys have all the fun, and I couldn't not show you all why us speedsters rule"

"Yeah, yeah, and just who exactly was it that _trained_ The Flash again? Or who's the one that The Flash calls for _help_ when he's stuck?"

"That's enough you two", Oliver stepped forward to break them up before their teasing progressed further than it should, though he felt a slight swell of pride in his chest, at the sight of Roy defending him, even as he ignored the wide-eyed, and slightly awestruck, look he was given, as Wally took in the suit, "now boys, I don't have all day you know, some of us have real jobs to get back to, cities to help run-"

"Masked supervillains to help stop, rookies to train, reporters to screw…"

She trailed off, unconcerned as the Green Arrow sent a glare to his sister, who simply shrugged back, completely unapologetic as she mimed ticking off her fingers, and he rolled his eyes in response, "Come on then, let's get you all inside"

He led the way past their SUV, and towards the warehouse's sole door, which was only unlockable by palm print, slipping his glove off, he placed his hand on it, letting it scan all give fingerprints, before it was accepted, and the door opened with the sound of the electromagnets disengaging. Stepping past the entryway, they all, (those that had seen it), expected to find a set-up that was similar to what Oliver had in the Arrowcave, (though the man himself still refused to call it that).

What they got instead, was to be greeted by an all-white corridor.

The concrete floor was painted white, as were the walls and ceiling. The only break in it was at the far end, where there was another door, only this time, there was no apparent way to get it open.

"Sweet", Wally was the last one to step inside, "I mean, if you like white that is"

"So how do we-"

Evelyn's question was stopped, when a small silver rod, no thicker than an average drinking glass, lowered itself from the ceiling slowly, and sent out a small, scanning blue light that ran over Oliver from head-to-toe.

"Ollie, what's-"

_"_ _Recognised, Green Arrow Zero-One"_

"Dude, is that a full body biometric scanner?"

_"_ _Speedy A-Zero-Two, Artemis A-Zero-Three, Arsenal A-Zero-One, Impulse A-Zero-Four"_

"Impulse?"

The door ahead of them began to lower into the floor, as Oliver answered Wally's question over his shoulder, "I asked around discretely when I decided to recruit you, apparently they were all calling you 'Kid Flash' in this other timeline Barry created? Yeah, well I think that's a stupid name, you're eighteen - an adult, not an eight year old child, so that's just not happening here. And then to cut a long story short, I ran through a list of words relating to speed, and eventually I got up to the word impulse, because the body's impulses and reactions move faster than we can even think. I thought it was a nice fit, is there a problem with it? Because I can always programme a different name for you, if you want to?"

"Nah, I actually like it… Wally West, Impulse, soon to be the fastest man alive… s'actually kinda cool when you get used to it"

Ignoring his rambling, the others stepped through the door, following the older hero and their mentor, as they took their first look at the base that was going to become their new home.

The floor was all panelled in pale grey and white tiles, and the walls were painted in a pale blue colour. The main room was full of furniture, and they could all see a kitchen through a door and a hole in the wall, which meant they could eat there, and still see the rest of the place.

The ceiling was high, and the room was lit by industrial lights, which had been installed as part of the warehouse's security upgrades.

Oliver was happy to see that the others weren't questioning how everything had happened, which suited him just fine. He'd only bought the warehouse/hangar off of STAR Labs a week ago, and it had taken a bit of bribing on his part to get Sara to go back in time and book contractors to get to work, while Ray and Jax handled the rest of his security measures.

He had to admit, as bothered as he had been to need to ask for their help, they _had_ done very good work, and they'd done it to his tight schedule.

He would actually have to say 'thank you' to them, the next time he saw them.

"This is the main room, which I've taken to calling 'The Hub'. Here you'll find all of the basic amenities you'll use on a day to day basis. The TV links up to a satellite that Ray and I may or may not have used our resources to discretely place-"

"-To probably try and appease Felicity for something stupid the two of you-"

"-that's enough from you Speedy", he levelled her with a glare that had everyone else slightly worried while she just shrugged him off, completely unconcerned, and he continued, "the point is that I can reach you, and you can reach me, at any point. I already had an alert set up on my phone"

"Wait", Evelyn looked at him, "you won't be staying with us?"

He smirked, "I can't, like I said before, I have responsibilities in Star City that will take up a lot of my time, I'll be coming back to test you all", he ran his eyes over all of them, and Wally looked nervous at the thought, "and deploy you on your missions, but I can't stay here permanently. I did however, find you all a suitable sitter", as he spoke the sound of heels on the floor grew louder, and from out of one of the corridors leading away from The Hub stepped an Asian woman that only Thea recognised, "this is my friend Tatsu. The others have also taken to calling her Katana"

* * *

His men fell silent as he approached, each one of them coming to stand to attention as he walked past, bringing their staffs straight, as their red capes fell still behind them.

Dressed in his armour, resplendent in red and gold, he climbed the steps to his throne, taking a seat as he removed his helmet, handing it off to the servant that had immediately stepped forward to take it, and offer him a glass of one of the mortal's finest wines.

"Tonight, my friends, we have moved one step closer to achieving my goal of re-establishing my rule here. Once we have my final piece in place, we shall step forth, into the light, and take our place as the rightful rulers of this land. Our people will rejoice as they sing our names as songs of praise, and our enemies will be crushed beneath my boot", he clenched his fist, before he relaxed, purposefully flexing it, and watching as lightning danced across his fingertips, as a smile lit up his face, "but tonight, we feast, and then, tomorrow, we will retake our place as gods!"

His speech was met with cheers and the banging of their staffs against the floor, before the servants set out the feast in front of him. Idly, he helped himself to the more sumptuous fruits, and watched on as his subjects dined, for soon, the rest of the world would know that their gods had, once more, been returned to them.

* * *

"Hello", Tatsu's voice was quiet and polite, with a slight tinge of her Japanese accent leaking through, but other than that, her English sounded excellent, "I look forward to working with you all"

At their confused looks he decided to explain, "As all of you are still new to this, I've asked her to step in and help train all of you. You will find that she has much to teach, she once helped teach me, and she is an expert with all forms of swords. She'll also be responsible for your hand-to-hand training. I expect you all to keep up with your own specialised training", he sent a quick glance to Wally, who nodded his understanding that Oliver meant his speed training, "but for now, let me show you around"

He led them through 'The Hub', showing them the different user interfaces, as well as having all of their fingerprints scanned in for complete access. Off to the side, he took them through the kitchen, which in addition to being enormous, was fully stocked in terms of appliances and food, much to Wally's delight, as it also included the calorie-heavy power bars he needed to consume, in order to maintain his bodyweight.

Their next stop was the second of three doors leading away from 'The Hub', not counting the entry way, which lead to an extremely long corridor lined with doors that led to the different bedrooms, with Tatsu already having claimed one that was halfway down the hall, an ideal place to be located, should anything happen at either side.

Oliver was aware that the others were scoping out the rooms, hoping to get the 'best' one, which was why he hadn't told them that they were all identical. There was a nice amount of space, although they weren't overly large, and each one came with a bed, desk, closet and a small en suite bathroom. At the very end of the hall, the rooms were larger, but designed for couples to stay in, such as Barry and Iris, when he finally got around to telling the speedster and his girlfriend that this place existed.

"You can all pick a bedroom later, and customise it however you want", his voice broke them from their musings, as they turned to each other to grin, "but for now let's stay focused and just get through this"

He led them upstairs, which he had converted into a few small conference rooms, as well as one really large one, where everyone that could possibly fit in had a seat, with icons representing their identities on the back of their chairs. They could make out a green arrowhead for the Green Arrow, the Flash's lightning bolt, the symbols for Firestorm and the Hawks further around the round table, before the four were ushered out by their trainer and handler, and led up to the roof, which he explained was just a large landing space for the Waverider, more than anything else.

Once they were happy, he led them back downstairs, and underground to the lower of the building's two sub-levels, where Thea and Evelyn found their motorcycles from the Arrow-cave, and Roy was happy to see that his old one was there, as well as the car Ray had bought for him before he'd left Starling City and gone into hiding.

Not wanting him to feel left out despite the fact that he could run faster than all of them when they were on their bikes, Oliver had also outfitted Wally with a small, but fast black sports car and motorcycle of his own, handing over the keys with a gruff, "No street racing", as the boy began planning the various ways he could enhance it using all of the equipment that had been provided for their use.

Ten minutes later, when Oliver was no longer amused by Wally and Roy comparing their cars, and the girls were bored by the mindless banter, he dragged Wally, allowing Tatsu to force Roy, out of the garage and maintenance area, and back up to the first sub-level.

To the training rooms.

They, in Oliver's mind, having trained mostly on an island, were his pièce de résistance - a master piece of a training area, which he had started to design for his own personal use, and back then all he'd needed where dummies and targets, but then Slade brought Mirakuru soldiers into his city, and eventually he'd increased it to for Barry's use as well. From there he had just kept adding to the plans, piece-by-piece, and bit-by-bit, constantly upgrading all of the technology involved, until it had become what it was now.

The main floor was made of a material that none of them recognised. It was pale blue-green colour, but had a completely solid look to it, as if it was made of coloured concrete, but still held a shine to it, making it look like it was made of glass or plastic.

There was a monitor on the wall large enough to make even Felicity jealous, and when Oliver stepped onto the floor, it came alive, showing a small picture of his vigilante appearance, with 'GREEN ARROW' written alongside it. Below that were his current vital readouts, tracking his suit, and as he moved, the floor beneath his feet lit up.

He explained it as best he could, though he had readily admitted that his own understanding of the technology was limited at best, but the floor was designed to track his movements while he was on it, as it was designed for sparring practice.

Ideally two people (or more) would spar on the large area, and the computer would record their movements, fight patterns, the time spent fighting and the result. All of which could be brought up from a computer terminal to help each individual improve their skills.

"And yes Wally", he spared a glance at the boy, "it is fast enough to keep up with you"

The young speedster grinned in response, "For now"

He nodded in agreement, "For now", before his gaze swept over them all, before he pointed to three of the training rooms four adjoining rooms, one after the other, "armoury, speed circuit, target range. You all now have access to all of them, and I expect you to make good use of them when you don't have a mission, but for now, there is only one room left, so if you'll all follow me"

He led them over to the fourth room - the only room in the entire building that they hadn't yet been in, having finally come to the end of Oliver's tour. The white door opened before they got there, operating on the same motion-sense technology as the rest of the building, and they stepped inside.

The room was circular, and not overly high, just average if anything, but the circle itself was quite wide, and the walls of the room were lined with cubicles made of white frosted glass that none of them could see through.

"Okay Ollie, what's-"

As Tatsu and Wally stepped through the door, the last of them entering the room, six of the doors lowered into the ground, sliding down to reveal their most essential piece of equipment.

Their armour.

Directly in front of the door was a second set of Green Arrow gear, complete with a fully-stocked quiver and spare bow alongside it. Several spaces to the right of that was a set of light armour, as well as a face mask bearing the Japanese flag, and a single sword, which they all correctly assumed belonged to Tatsu.

At the edges of the room, in some of the last pods, two doors on each side lowered, and Thea immediately recognised the Speedy outfit she wore to patrol, as well as her bow, quiver, and the small sword she'd begun to wear after training with Malcolm.

"Roy, your new Arsenal outfit is on the left. Evelyn, I've also taken the liberty of having a real Artemis outfit created, and it is on the end next to his. Wally, the new Impulse gear is next to Thea's-"

He barely had time to say what it was he wanted, before he was cut off by a flash of yellow lightning, and Wally was stood in front of him, decked out in yellow and red. All Oliver had done was taken Wally's 'Flashpoint' design - he still didn't completely understand what Barry had said about that - and added some lightweight armour throughout the suit - which he still insisted Barry needed - and some extra padding at the shoulders, in order to help with high speed collisions.

He was quite proud of it actually, he'd never designed armour for a metahuman before.

"What are these for?"

The speedster waved the red goggles in his face, before snatching his hand back when a scowl crossed Oliver's.

"For field use. There's night vision, thermal vision, and some basic scanning features, which you should try out. It's the type of stuff our masks", he indicated himself and his three protégés, "can't have, but I think should. I thought it'd be useful for someone on the team to have one, and it should slot in behind your belt buckle while you're running. Just tap the side to cycle through the various modes"

"Sweet", not wasting anytime, the boy set about playing with his goggles, while Oliver led Thea, Roy and Evelyn to the new outfits, giving a brief outline as he went.

Roy's new Arsenal suit was a reflection of Oliver's Green Arrow suit, and his former Arsenal one, paying homage to the training he'd undergone, but still being able to stand alone, though instead of being nearly completely green, the top was now made of a dark shade of purple, with black accents, while the hood was also the same shade of purple, the mask and gloves were black. The trousers were the same ones he had worn as Arsenal, with purple trimming at the point where his boots met the legs.

Oliver had also seen fit to include a new thigh holster for his twin Escrima sticks, as well as new sticks to actually go in them, an all-black quiver, with purple-tipped black arrows, and in the cubicles final slot, was a bow that was identical to the one the Green Arrow used, though slightly smaller to compensate for Roy's smaller frame.

Unlike Arsenal, Artemis would be wearing the exact same shade of green that her mentor did, in a suit that seemed to combine elements of Green Arrow and Speedy. Her boots and trousers were the same that Thea would be wearing, but unlike hers, Evelyn's had been crafted in the same colours as Oliver's. The top part of the body was a slim-fitting version of what Oliver wore, but where he had his zipper down the front, her's was down the back, and much less visible, instead the front chest of her suit was covered in a large, pale yellow arrowhead, and when she ran her fingers across it, she found that it had been reinforced, and she smiled, remembering his lesson on protecting areas that attract attention. He'd given her gauntlets and shoulder pads, like his first Green Arrow suit, instead of the sleeves he currently wore, which was the way she preferred it. She'd also been provided with a new full face green mask, replacing her black domino one, but there was no hood, leaving her free to pull her hair back into a long ponytail.

"Sweet", was Evelyn's only response as she picked up her new black bow, as she let her gaze run over the green arrows, before it landed on the small collapsible crossbow that was also present, turning to her mentor, with a raising eyebrow, he smirked, as his own rose in tandem.

"For emergency use only - _don't_ ", he stressed the word, "become reliant on it"

"I won't, I promise", was all she said before Roy, having waited long enough, grabbed his suit and headed for the changing room, and after a moment's hesitation, she followed.

Oliver turned in time to see Thea and her Speedy gear following Evelyn, while Wally was busy admiring Impulse in the mirror. Catching Tatsu's eyes, he rolled his own with a smirk on his face, as if to say ' _kids_ ', while she smiled, before closing the door to her own armour, and the two of them left for the kitchen, where Tatsu would make the two of them tea.

* * *

Three hours later, Oliver had long changed into his normal charcoal grey suit and tie, and had enjoyed catching up with Tatsu over a pot of her tea when the others finally decided to re-join them.

Thea was the first one back, having had enjoyed a thorough workout, testing to make sure she still felt confident enough in her own skills to go back out into the field, followed by a long shower. When she walked into the kitchen, she headed straight for the coffee machine, putting on a fresh pot, and dressed in black skinny jeans, ankle boots and a red plaid shirt, she spared the two fully-trained heroes a nod in lieu of a greeting, while she waited for the others.

Roy and Evelyn followed in quick succession, the former dressed in a red hoodie and jeans, which came as a surprise to no one that knew him, while Evelyn wore her favourite black leather jacket, jeans and a green blouse. Both of them headed for the coffee that Thea had already helped herself to, and managed to grab a cup, before a flash of yellow lightning flew past them, and poured the rest of it into an extra-large mug, before Wally came to a stop in front of them, casually leaning against the counter, dressed in a pair of blue jeans, with a black shirt over a yellow t-shirt and a pair of trainers.

"Hey guys", he offered, before quickly draining what was left of the coffee, before looking at Roy and Evelyn, "how're the suits?"

"Mine's a good fit"

"Pretty sweet. How's your-"

"Eh hem", Oliver cleared his throat, and for the first time, they noticed he was wearing a business suit, "I have a few more things to say before I have to leave", he paused to see that they were all listening, before reaching into the duffel bag at his feet, and pulling out five mobile devices, that other than the large circled 'T' embossed on the back, looked exactly like normal smartphones.

"These", he explained as he tossed one to each of them, "were designed by Mister Terrific for my team, but I turned them down in favour of Overwatch's communications. They function as normal smartphones on our satellite, but they also have an instant communication line to the other four, constant tracking, as well as a 'panic' button, should you be caught in a situation out of uniform, so I thought they'd be a better fit for you guys"

"Does he know that you've taken them?"

Oliver expertly ignored his sister's question, "Keep these on you at _all_ times", he finished, making sure to look all of them, including Tatsu, in the eye, "I also have one, and I'll be alerted if three of you hit the panic button within a ten minute period"

Seeing that they understood, he nodded to himself, before reaching down once more, and sliding each of them a plain black rectangle.

"Credit cards for your personal use, paid for through the Team Arrow funds", he crinkled his nose at the use of the name he usually argued against, "use them to buy clothes, food, necessities, and have a little fun with them", at that, their collective faces morphed into shocked expressions, and Oliver chuckled, "just don't go overboard, I'm not any of your fathers, and I won't act like it, but please be somewhat responsible"

"Thank you, Oliver"

"You got it boss"

"No promises Ollie"

"Sweet, that's pretty cool GA. Thanks"

"That's pretty awesome man"

They all slid their cards into the purses and wallets, while Oliver stood, collecting his bag from the floor, and looking at them all, "I have to go now, I need to get back to being the mayor, and I want to leave before I change my mind about the cards", he bent down to kiss Thea on the cheek, and hug Tatsu, who was on her way out of the kitchen, "I'll be in touch"

The four of them hung stayed silent long enough to hear the computer announce " _Green Arrow Zero-One"_ , before Thea bounced out of her sea with a grin, and turned to face them all, flashing her purse.

"I say that no decorations, and new credit cards equals a shopping trip, followed by dinner", she flashed them all a grin, "so who's with me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we finally have the team in one place, all we need now is a bad guy to pit them against (or have I already started that?).
> 
> Oliver has been in these first few chapters a lot, enough to make him feel like a main character, but my goal is for him to take a similar role as Batman did in Young Justice, where he's there, but also not really there, and speaking of Young Justice, the Impulse and Artemis costumes are inspired (somewhat), by their designs from that show.
> 
> I've decided to name Wally Impulse instead of Kid Flash because calling him Kid Flash when he's supposed to be eighteen years old just seems strange to me, and I'm actually surprised they didn't do this in the show, unless Bart Allen is designed to be showing up in the near future.
> 
> So we've now got a team of four, with some hints towards a potential fifth member that could be coming along soon, but there a plenty of others that could make an appearance, and even join the team fully. There is an OPEN POLL on my profile page, so please cast a vote, and let me know who you'd like to see show up, even if it was just on a temporary basis.
> 
> If you want to see someone who isn't on my list, then please PM me, and we'll see about getting them added to it.
> 
> I think I'd like to have Mon-El join, because I think he's wasted on Supergirl as eye-candy, when he could be an actual meaningful character. He's meant to be the lone survivor of a planet he watched burn and die, with powers similar to those of Superman/Supergirl, who was a skewered set of morals because of where and the way he was raised. All we get is kind-of lying, slightly-sexist asshole.
> 
> But anyway, please let your voices be heard!
> 
> -MarvelMatt


	6. Faith Given

_'_ _Show faith in someone who is struggling to make it, and you just might help them succeed'_

_-Unknown_

* * *

**Titans**

**Arc 01: Genesis**

**Chapter 05: Faith Given**

* * *

It was by unanimous decision, realising the extra space it had, that they decided to take the spare Team Arrow SUV that had been left there, rather than using their own cars and bikes to go shopping. The only problem they had was deciding who would drive, when both Wally and Roy moved to grab they keys.

The solution presented itself when Thea took the keys out of their hands, and Evelyn called shotgun, leaving the two grumbling boys to pile into the backseat.

Given that neither Roy or Evelyn owned much in the way of clothing, and that most of Thea and Wally's belongings were still at their respective homes, Thea decided that clothes shopping was first item on their to-do-list.

"And just who put you in charge of this imaginary list?" Roy asked from the backseat, while Thea raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow in response.

"If it's imaginary, then it doesn't really matter now, does it? Now, be quiet and do as you're told Harper"

"And I guess I'm just supposed to stand there and try on whatever the hell you want me to Queen?"

"You bet your ridiculously fine ass that's right. Will that be a problem?"

He chuckled, "No ma'am", before he settled back into his seat, gazing out the window, while Thea looked for the nearest shopping mall.

* * *

"Is everyone in position?"

"Yes My Lord. All of your soldiers are ready. We await only your command"

"Then spread the word throughout all of my kingdom, the time of the gods is at hand. Order them all to begin at once"

* * *

"Finally", Wally proclaimed with an exaggerated sigh as he slid into one of the chairs at their private booth, ignoring the reproachful looks from the restaurant's other patrons and the 'shush' he earned from Thea.

His joy at finally being able to eat however, did not diminish the matching looks of slight amazement he and Evelyn had given the restaurant when Thea had led the three of them inside. While still amazed, Roy had grown somewhat used to them back in Starling City, and was able to hide his own expression behind a mildly charming smile, as he tried not to laugh at the other two.

Thea Queen hadn't even batted an eye.

All it took was the mention of her surname and a flash of her credit card for the Queen Family Matriarch to get them their own private booth, while she paid no attention to the angry expressions of the people who had obviously been waiting some time for their tables, as their server for the evening led them to a booth and she ordered a bottle of wine.

Personally, Roy felt that Wally's expression of gratefulness was merited, given that the all of the shopping the two of them had done was equal to a half hour each for clothes, before they'd grabbed a few things they'd need for their rooms, including their preferred brands of toothpaste and aftershave.

The girls meanwhile, had managed to spend the remainder of the afternoon they had on clothes alone, asking for their opinion on everything, before moving onto the other stuff they needed - they'd even managed to get the boys to agree to have actual suits made up, including the ones they were wearing, claiming they could be useful for undercover work, and having had to watch Wally, their overly energetic speedster, try and stay still for long enough to be measured was enough of a deterrent for Roy to not want to go again.

He couldn't argue with their taste in clothes though.

They gotten him into a light grey, three piece suit, which came complete with a pale purple shirt, and a tie that had been custom made into the exact same shade of purple as his 'other' suit. Thea had then dragged him off for a matching pair of black Italian leather shoes, belt and wallet, before shrugging, and grabbing him a watch too.

It was more money than he'd ever really feel comfortable spending, especially given that it was technically Team Arrow's money, but Thea had given him 'that' look, which told him she thought he was being stupid, and he just paid for it all without any questions asked.

Sat opposite him in the booth, Wally was dressed in a solid black, two piece suit and tie, which was highlighted with a bright yellow shirt and pocket square. While Evelyn had made sure to get him a belt and trousers like his, Wally had refused a watch, saying the speed he moved at made watches useless to him, as they were always falling behind, and bought a pair of sunglasses instead.

He'd then rattled off some actual science facts about the time difference, including talking about something to do with Einstein, but the other three just hadn't understood a word he'd said in the slightest.

While it was Roy and Wally's opinion that the two of them did look quite dashing in their new attire, even if they had suffered to get it, neither one of them believed that they looked worth anything when they were compared to the two girls.

Evelyn had managed to acquire a vibrant red, form-fitting dress, which was designed with a crisscross pattern over her chest that went down to her knees. She'd paired it with a pair of small golden heels and matching clutch purse, before adding a small golden necklace with an arrowhead pendant that had come as a set of two. Her hair was pulled back into her preferred long ponytail, which reached the small of her back. The temporary hair dye she normally used had begun to wear off during the day, and if they looked closely, they could see a few streaks of blonde poking through the brown mass.

Thea was wearing the second necklace with an arrowhead pendant, with her hair blown out, falling in wavy chops down to her shoulders. She had decided on a single-shoulder black dress, which fell down to just above her knees. She'd finished the look off with a pair of glossy black stiletto heels, and her own matching purse.

The four of them were just starting to make small talk, when their waiter came back over. He introduced himself a 'Jacques', despite the fact that he was obviously a local, and proceeded to ask them, in a _very_ bad French accent, what they would like to order.

They never got the chance to answer before an explosion tore through the wall.

* * *

_"_ _This is the latest from Jump City. Mysterious soldiers are walking the streets, armed with some sort of electric staffs as they are imposing marshal law upon its citizens, proclaiming that this is the new golden age. From what we've been able to gather, they're wearing a set of some kind of full body armour. It's made of a golden material with a solid face mask and a red cape- Oh shit, move Paul!"_

_The screen flashed yellow for a moment, before static filled the screen._

_"_ _Sandra!? Sandra!? David!? Is anyone there!?"_

_The screen was replaced with a middle-aged man sat behind a desk in a news studio, "We seem to have lost contact with Sandra, our contact out in Jump City, but the question of the hour is what is going on there? We have gold soldiers wearing capes in the streets, staffs that fire electricity and reports of explosions all around City Hall. We're going to try and re-establish contact, but until, this is Paul Ash, please stay tuned for more"_

 

A flash of gold light burst across their vision, as Barry Allen came to a stop in front of them, "Are you guys seeing this?"

"No Barry", Oliver's face was devoid of any trace of humour, "we thought we'd turn the news on, and then just not watch it"

The Flash sent him an unamused look, "I'm serious, what are we going to do? We have to help them"

Felicity was already on her computer, and while Digg and his team were getting ready to suit up, he slid his hand into his trouser pocket, in view of everyone, where he grabbed their attention by not grabbing his bow. The phone rang twice before he heard Tatsu's voice answering her phone.

"Hello Oliver"

"I saw the news, and my team's here", he cast an eye on everyone, and saw that they were all intently listening to the half of a conversation that they could hear, "do we need to intervene? This is your call now"

"No Oliver, it is theirs'", she used the tone she used to use in Japan, whenever she thought he was being a bigger ass than was normal for him, "they have put their faith in you, as their trainer, their mentor, and their friend. Perhaps it is time that they had their faith rewarded, no?"

"It's different now"

He could hear her smile in her voice, "Is it? Is it not the same as learning under your Yao Fei? Your Slade Wilson?" Her voice grew slightly upset, "Learning under Maseo?"

He exhaled, "Is it not the same?"

"No", she agreed, sounding amused again, "they are better trained than you were, and they will actually work together as a team, something you have always struggled with, something you still struggle with, is it not?"

He closed his eyes as he breathed out, letting it clam him, as his old friend had told him what he needed to hear, "You're right"

She chuckled, "Yes, I am, but they have put their faith in you, and you have rewarded them with your trust, in a way you haven't trusted others before, perhaps, Oliver, it is time that you put your faith in them"

 

_Do I trust them with this?_

_I trust Roy._

_I trust Thea._

_I trust Evelyn._

_Iâ€¦ well I don't hate Wally - that has count for something right?_

 

He closed his eyes, nodding to himself, "You're right - again. Thank you, my old friend"

"For what Oliver? Putting you back into place? You are always welcome for that, now let them be the warriors you've trained them to be. Let them be the heroes that we both know that they are. This is their fight now"

With her parting words, she hung up on him and he fought back a smile. Straightening up, he slid his phone back into his pocket and looked across the room at John, who was stood next to his Spartan gear, one hand on his helmet, ready to move.

"Stand down John, we're staying out of this one"

"Oliver man-"

"Trust me on this one Diggle, the situation's already in hand", he held the other man's gaze until he saw his consent in his eyes, and he watched as the recruits stood down too, putting their weapons away. Felicity's lips were pursed, like they always were when she was unhappy, but she shut her searches down anyway.

Barry was the sole holdout, the upset look on his face telling him that Barry was not liking that they weren't helping one bit, but eventually the speedster huffed, before disappearing from their eyes in a flash of golden lightning.

Hopefully, the younger man wouldn't interfere though.

He already had to worry about one speedster running around on the job.

Turning away from his team, he turned his attention back to the news station they had rolling, hoping for a glimpse of the heroes he knew were there, looking forward to their success as he put his faith in them.

Perhaps today, was the day that his faith would be rewarded too.

* * *

The explosion destroyed the wall opposite the booth they were sitting in, the four of them and Jacques should already have been dead, crushed by massive chunks of debris, but fortunately for them, a speedster reacted faster than an explosive.

The waiter suddenly found himself disorientated, standing in front of a hot dog stand two blocks away, but otherwise unharmed from the explosion, while the other three felt slightly dizzy, as they realised they were now sat inside of their SUV, which was already pulling out onto the street.

"What's going on guys?"

Thea asked the question from her place in the backseat next to Evelyn, taking in where they were, as she looked at the fires raging around them, while Wally looked back at them from his place next to Roy, as he gunned the accelerator, heading for the warehouse they were now supposed to be calling home.

"I know we all just met, but it looks like it's time for us to suit up"

* * *

The SUV burst into the garage, skimming the top of the door that was still retracting, Wally's expert driving skills and enhanced reflexes being the only reason they didn't flip over as they hit the floor.

Three of them moved in tandem, flying out of the car and heading straight for the armour room, while Wally parked the car, running straight past Tatsu, failing to notice her, as she watched them rush past her with a small smile on her lips.

 

_Good luck._

 

The doors to the armour room were opening in front of them, as a flash of yellow shot past them, skidding to a stop in front of the doors as they continued to rise.

Roy hit the floor in a baseball slide, sliding straight under the rising door and rolling back on to his feet on the other side. Not waiting for the others, he grabbed his suit, pulling it from its already open display case and darted straight into the changing room.

Behind him, the door finished raising and the other three ducked inside. The girls were quick to grab their gear and head for the changing room, while a blurred figure and yellow streak was all it took for Wally West to be gone, and for impulse to be stood in his place.

Roy was the first to emerge from the changing room, with his Arsenal gear on, but with his hood down and his mask hung around his neck. He immediately returned to his display case to start loading up with his weapons, and before long his quiver was fully stocked and slung across his back, his wrists were surrounded with flechettes, and his escrima sticks were strapped to his right thigh.

Artemis and Speedy took a few moments longer before they emerged and repeated the process, with Artemis strapping a collapsible crossbow to her right thigh, while Speedy sheathed her sword behind her quiver.

With Impulse and Artemis already wearing face masks, Arsenal and Speedy pulled on their domino masks, before flipping up their hoods.

"Alright team", as their hoods and masks had voice distortion software lined in, rather than being an additional handheld device, Arsenal's voice was slightly deeper than normal as he spoke, "let's get a move on"

* * *

The explosions had rattled all throughout key areas of the city, with most of them centred on City Hall, but other key areas throughout the rest of the city had been struck too.

The Jump City Police Department Headquarters had been struck, leaving five officers injured, two dead and their entire fleet of vehicles burning, with similar results at the city's private security firms, and any other place that had the means to provide armed help on a city-wide scale.

Even the business district hadn't been untouched, with some of the city's major firms being hit, in an attempt to sow unease and panic.

Jaime had left the park long before the bombs started going off, and had begun making his way through the city, heading towards the city centre, looking for harder and harder places to show off his skills on a board, eventually settling on the long stone stairs and steel rails that the business district was known for.

He was enjoying bouncing off of, and balancing on, the mixture of trees and steps at the entrance to one of the dozen high rises that functioned as the headquarters for some of the international businesses that were based there.

He'd been expecting to see the odd suit and tie every now and then, passing through on their way to make a night meeting, or even a security guard making their rounds, working the night shift.

He had not been expecting an explosion on one of the top floors.

The force of it rattled the ground he was on, unsettling his balance and sending him sprawling to the floor. His head struck the ground as he landed, making him feel dizzy as he looked upwards, towards the night sky. The inky blackness was normally lit up by the bright signs of corporate logos and neon advertising, but tonight it was lit up by flames, and highlighted by screams as the top floors of Kord Industries burned.

Small pieces of debris rained down, bits of burning rock and plaster striking the floor with an alarming amount of speed and force. Jaime rolled onto his stomach and flipped his hood up, still dizzy and disorientated, but determined to protect himself, to get away safely - simply to get away alive.

He crawled, still feeling sluggish from his landing, but he managed to crawl, scratching at the ground, clawing with his hands, determined to pull himself forwards, closer and closer to his own survival - determined to reach the front of the building, knowing that it would be much safer inside.

He was inches away when he felt the second shock, the second explosion expelling with the same amount of force as the first, sending even more debris raining down on them, and in his panic, Jaime forget about crawling, as he brought his hands up to protect the back of his head.

And then his back burned in pain.

It was an agony unlike anything he'd ever felt before in his life. It started as a burning, stabbing pain in his upper back, before it spread along his nerves like tiny knives piercing his skin, his mouth opened in a silent scream, before his body could take no more, and mercifully, he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happening in this chapter, but the team's getting thrown in at the deep end - so this'll be fun!
> 
> The poll on my FF.net profile (same username), giving me an idea of who you'd like to see pop-up is still active, so do please vote.
> 
> And as always, please leave a review below.
> 
> -MarvelMatt


End file.
